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THE FORT MILL TIMES. VOLUME 18 NO. ?6. FORT MILL" S. C., THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1910. $1-2S pEK YFAK. ' i TEXAS ARMY PRISON HOLDS FORT MILL BOY Wm, E. Morse, Convicted by Courtmartial of Desertion, Sentenced to One Year. Wm. E. Morse, 20-year-old son of Henry Morse, a resident of this place is serving a year's sentence in the post guard-house at Fort Sam Houston, Tex., for desertion from the United States army. Young Morse's term of confinement will expire on the 13th of March. Two years ago Morse left the home of his father near Flint Hill church and went to Jacksonville, Fla. Failing to secure employment in the Florida city, he enlisted in the army and was sent to New York city, where he was in the service for several months. He was then sent with his company to Fort Sam Houston. Tiring of army life, Morse left the post without permission. He was arrested in a Texas city last July as a deserter and courtmartialed, the trial resulting in conviction and a sentence of one year's imprisonment. After learning of his son's plight, Henry Morse took the matter up with Congressman Finley with the view of obtaining a pardon for the boy from President Taft. Some weeks ago a petition was sent here in young Morse's behalf by Congressman Finley for signatures, with instructions to return the petition as soon as it was liberally signed by citizens of the community. The petition for pardon was then to be taken up with the war department and later with the president. Meanwhile, however, a letter was received by Henry Morse from the war department stating that the term of the boy's confinement1 would expire in March, with the usual allowance of time off for good behavior. Morse then went i to Magistrate McElhaney and got possession of the petition and burned it. William Morse is a native of this township and was well liked by all who knew him. He was of a quiet, inoffensive disposition before he left here and his friends will regret to learn of the trouble he is in. Young Morse says that it was not his intention to desert, but that he was tired of the confinement of army life and wished to be free for a few days, expecting to return to duty within a shzrt time. John W. Wilson Dies Suddenly. J?hn W. Wilson, a mMdle-aged white man whose home was near the Millfort mill in this place, died suddenly at an early hour Thursday morning, presumably of an affection of the heart. Mr. Wilson arose early Thursday morning and wont to the barn in the rear of his home to feed his mulez. Failing to return to his home for a considerable time, Mrs. Wilson became apprehensive that something had happened to her husband and began a search for him. His dead body was found on the ground a few feet from the barn {loor. Mr. Wilson was a hardworking man who was well liked in this community. He moved with his family to Fort Mill some years ago from Lancaster county LW and had since resided in the B^lwttle home which he boucht after i K&" coming here. He is survived by W* his wife and a number of children. The body was taken to Lower Camp churchyard, in Lancaster county, where it was interred Friday afternoon. A chicken fight was held a short distance outside the city limits Saturday afternoon by a number of men none of whose names is known by The Times. It is stated that a difficulty arose over the merits of one of the I Ki?*/1a an/) a tirktfa naan ? ?" unuo auu a mute man wnu W in the vicinity of the pit over- j heard the loud talking and ap4 proached the party thinking to quiet the disturbance. Instead of hispresence having a soothing effect on those engaged in the boisterouaness, one of the participants upbraided him for interfering. Then a fist fight followed between the would-be peace-maker and the man who resented his good counsel. The fist fight broke up the main. f MRS. B. R. TILLMAN, JRV GIVEN HER BABIES Unanimous Decision of Supreme Court Awards Little Girls to Their Mother. Special to the Fort Mill Times. Columbia, Feb. 15.?The supreme court today handed down its decision, rendered by Justice Woods and concurred in by the whole court, in the celebrated Tillman case, in which the little Tillman girls are awarded to the custody of Mrs. B. R. Tillman, Jr. The court decides that the statute under which these children were deeded by B. R. Tillman, Jr., to Senator and Mrs. Tillman is unconstitutional in that the act fails to give "equal protection of the law" to these children and deprives them of their liberty without "due process of law.'' The decision is, in effect, that the mother has* some rights in the matter of the disposition of her children. "The general assembly cannot empower the father at his own will, to deprive the mother and child of these legal rights so long established as elements of personal liberty." * * "Under statutes like this the father could exercise a tyranny revolting to all sense of justice." The court places the blame for the last separation of the young Tillmans in November upon B. R. Tillman, Jr. The most decided reference to Mie sentimental side of the case s found in these words, toward the end of the decision: "More important still is the consideration that the children in the care of their mother may touch and soften the hearts of both husband and wife, quicken in both the sense of duty and bring about a reconciliation and a renewal ol family life." Mrs. Tillman, who is makinc her home in this city, broke rlmvn nrirl \uor\t ?rlion oKo loovnorl of the court's finding. The children are at the Tillman home in Trenton and will probably be given over to their mother al once. McK. Party for Miss Withers The Jacksonville Times-Unior ; a few days ago published the following item in its society columns concerning a pleasant incident ol the visit of Miss Bessie Withers, of Fort Mill, to the family of hei uncle, State Senator I. N. Withers* at Lady Lake, Fla.: 4'The , young people had a delightfu time Friday night at a partj given by Miss Freddie Lee DeVaun, in honor of Miss Bessie Withers, from Fort Mill, S. C., who is visiting Senator and Mrs. I. N. Withers. Miss Freddie Lee is a lovely hostess and all whe attended were charmed with the plans made for their entertainment. Miss Withers and Miss De Vaun received the guests ii the parlor and after spending some time in pleasant conversafmn onrJ nromno oil 4- ~ uvm uuvi ^ninto, mi ncic lliv lltX to the dining room, where re freshments were served. Miss Withers will return home soon, much to the regret of the young people here. However, she is delighted with Florida and says she expects to come again." Look Out, Washerwomen! Representative Harry Foster of Lancaster county, does nol take kindly to the practice ol washerwomen using the wearing apparel of their patrons and has had passed by the lower house of the General Assembly a bil desierned to nrevent tho nmofipA Mr. Foster's bill provides thai it shall be unlawful for anj laundryman, laundress, washer woman or other person having in his or her charge, or under his or her control, the clothes 01 wearing apparel of another foi the purpose of washing, launder ing, pressing, cleaning, dyeing 01 repairing the same, to knowinglj wear or use the said clothes 01 garments, or to allow any othei person to use or wear the sai( clothes or garments. Any per son found guilty of violating th< act shall be punished by a line oi not over $50, or by imprisonment not exceeding 30 days. CONGRESSMAN FINLEY MUST ANSWER WRIT i As Member of Printing Committee Fifth's Representative Cited to Show Cause. Congressman D. E. Finley of this (Fifth) congressional district l is member of the joint printing , committee of Congress, the other members being Senators Smoot (Utah), Bourne (Ore.), Fletcher (Fla.) and Representatives I Cooper (Pa.) and Sturgiss (W. ;Va.) This committee was some i davs sgo cited to appear and ! show cause in response to a writ of mandamus by Justice Wright of the supreme court of the ; fli VWL,\ + *'& >0 i. ' .!;'? ^ ':-HI K'' ?lV; 'r^fflrr^fr" SrSyL^^CONGRESSMAN D. E. FINLEY. i District of Columbia why they 1 should not have awarded the contract for a certain order of paper to the Valley Paper com; pany, which that company believed was its due. I The action of Justice Wright - is said to be unprecedented and > | caused considerable commotion in Congress. In the senate it was promptly set down as an f unauthorized invasion of the prerogatives an(#* immunities of t members of Congress. The ' house of representatives took a J different view of the matter, s however, and directed the three t house members of the committee to appear in court and answer the summons. (ipnrir^ R Hnmil'mi Vine hnon employed to appear as attorney 1 in behalf of the representatives - at the hearing of the case, which 5 has been postponed for two f weeks, but the senate has , ordered its members of the comr mittee to ignore the District - court's right to take any such i action. I The case is regarded by conr stitutional specialists as one of - the greatest interest and im? portance. If Justice Wright , shall insist on the jurisdiction of his court for the purpose of rei quiring members of the com) mittee to appear and show cause, ; the case will be promptly ap pealed, and the supreme court ; of the United States will have a i good chance of making the final : decision. The immediate appeal is to the appellate court of the I District; thence to the supreme court of the United States. s Meanwhile, Mr. Finley's home , folks do not anticipate that he : will have to go to jail or forfeit i his salary, whatever the final > disposition of the case. But the fact that the popular York dis trict congressman nas thus been brought into the limelight serves to direct the attention of his constituents to the fact that he t is a member of two of the most f important committees of Con; gress, the joint committee on printing and the committee on postoffice and postroads. York Court in Session. Court of common pleas was in session in Yorkville all of last week with Judge DeVore presiding. No cases of any considerable magnitude were disposed of and it is probable that i ie court will continue until the ( id of this week. A number of c ises on the calendar were r settled by compromise, including r one that has been tried at least r twice and each time sent back 1 by the supreme court. It was a - damage suit case against the 3 Southern railway, the railroad f losing each time before a jury t and winning in ti e higher court, i or at least gaining a new trial. I i j ANNUAL SUPPLY BILL FOR YORK ADOPTEE Measure Which Will Provide Rev enue for County Government This Year. The supply bill for York court ty for the current year has beer agreed upon by the members o] the General Assembly from this county. As passed by the hous< last Friday the provisions of th< bill are as follows: "For the county of York, foi ordinary county purposes, foui mills; a levy of two mills foi road purposes, as provided bj law, the treasurer to apportior same, as required law; also i special levy ol one-half of on< mill, conditioned upon the sun of $4,000 being raised and paic j over to the county treasurer 01 I York county on or before Apri 1 1st, 1910, to supplement th( amount to be raised by this lev} I for the purpose of the erectior of an iron or steel bridge ovei Catawba river at such point al or near Indian ferry in Catawbi township as the county super visor and county commissioners may direct, in Ebenezer town ship a special levy of three fourths of one mill; in Catawbi township, a special levy of tw< mills, in York township; i special levy of three and one-hall rr.ills, to pay the interest or bonds issued by said townships in interest of the Charleston Cincinnati & Chicago radroad also in said townships of Ebene zer, Catawba and York a specia levy of one-half mill as a sinkinj fund to retire said bonds; th< treasurer of York county for col lectyig and disbursing this specia levy shall be allowed commis sions, as now provided by law A levy of one-quarter of on< mill to be placed by the count} treasurer to the county bridg< fund to be expended according to law. The county commission ers of York county are herebj authorized and empowered t( borrow a sum of money, not exceeding ten thousand dollars at a rate of interest no* to exceec six per cent., for ordinary count} purposes, and to pledge the ta> levy of said county to secure th< same. In addition to this amount for ordinary county purposes, th< county commissioners of Yorl county are authorized and em I nnworoH tn Hnrmur o cum r\f - ? ? VV* vv wvi 4W?? U UU1U VI IIV/ exceeding $5,000, at a rate o interest not to exceed six pe: cent., for the purpose of erecting an iron or steel bridge ove: Catawba river at or near Indiai ferry in Catawba township, pro vided the sum of $4,000 has beei subscribed and paid over to th< county treasurer of York countj as hereinbefore provided, and t< pledge the special tax levy o; one-half of one mill to secure th? same." York Man to Edit News and Courier. Major J. C. Hemphill will bt succeeded on March 1 as editoi of the Charleston News anc Courier bv Robert Lathan, i native of York county. Mr, Lathan has been on the staff ol The News and Courier foi several years, first as city editoi and lately as an editorial writer, He is a son of the late Rev. Robert Lathan, a minister of the Associate Reformed Presbyteriar church, who was not only well known in this section as a mar of great piety and unusual intel lect but who acceptably served the county as superintended of education during the troublous days of reconstruction and afterward. Young Mr. Lathan, like his father, is also a man of intel lectual parts and although he has not lived in York county foi several years is pleasantly re membered by many of the friends of his boyhood days who an greatly pleased to note his pro motion to so important a positioi in the newspaper world. Child Law A .ended. The house of >resentatives Monday passed thout a dis senting v ice \ .ill changinj the act undei ich Senatos Tillman got hi -andchildrer forbidding sue ting withou the consent of ti??. ..other of th< children. The Senate has takei similar action. The bill will b< ratified, when the two House: get together on minor amend i ments. The Police Dragnet. * ] > The police department of the town government didn't make hay while the sun shone Satur day and Monday?for two good ( reasons: this is the wrong season to cut hay, because there's no hay to be cut and Old Sol didn't warm up the earth enough to P permit the fascinating farm < j; exercise, anyway?but it did rake 1 * up considerable coin while the ] ^ snow was on the ground. Which . ; is one way of saying that several , offenders were caught in the ' r police dragnet and fined for r violating town ordinances. Most ( r of the fines were collected for j plain drunks, but in one case a 1 white man who was charged * with being drunk and carrying 3 concealed on his person a gun ' J (this word "gun" has a call in ] p police parlance) was stung for I $25. In another case $12.50 each \ ?. aoocascu against iwo wnite ^ men on the double-barreled * charge of drunk and disorderly, * the disorderliness constituting the olfense of attempting Sunday 1 afternoon to shoot the top out of ( a pine tree against which they ] seemed to harbor a grudge. These men, who worked for the Fort Mill Mfg. Co., lost their jobs, too. The plain drunks netted the town $35 more. Pineville Merchant Seriously 111. ] Zeb M. Johnson, one of the 1 leading merchants of Pineville, : N. C., is a patient at Johns Hop- ' kins hospital, Baltimore, where ( 7 he is being treated for kidney ' trouble. Mr. Johnson has been ( ^ a great sufferer from this affec - tion for several months and has ' been treated by specialists in Richmond and Charlotte with ; little apparent benefit. The last 1 report from his bedside indicated ; ^ that his condition was unchanged. ! r Clarendon Man a Candidate. Mr. E. C. Scarborough, of f Clarendon, for two terms a mem> her of the house of representa- i t tives, has announced his candi. dacy for railroad commissioner i i to succeed Major John H. Earle. < !li You Can B Advantaj EVERY DAY IS BARGAII FOREMOST STORE, BUT V IN THE SEVERAL DEPAR ; NESS THE CHOICEST SELE \ GOODS AT ABSOLUTELY 1 TAGEOUS PRICED EVER OF THIS COMMUNITY. We Give i I BESIDES SELLING YOU i GOODS AT THE LOWEST I : GIVE YOU WITH EACH C t>/~YXT lUTTTnil T~* XTTT^PT HCl ryjiv vvni^n 111 I sj OF ANY KIND OF GOODS 1 THESE COUPONS ARE V I EACH DOLLAR PURCHASE \ MANY OF OUR CUSTOMER SERVICEABLE MERCHAN) j COME HERE FOR YOl X WARE, ETC., AND ASK FO r | MILLS & \ ROCK HILL'S HOPES GONE ALL TO SMASH Carolina Traction Company Has Withdrawn Application for a Trolley Franchise. It seems that the recent proposition of a number of capitalists Lo build a trolley line in Rock Till has gone all to smash. The Carolina Traction company had isked the city to hold an election ;o say whether they should be granted a 50-year franchise for a street car line and the time had oeen set for the election a few lags hence, but it is all off now, for the timo at. loast Tt nil onniP lbout in this way: Knowing hat there existed among the /oters a strong opposition to granting a franchise for a long errn and under no restrictions, some prominent business men rot into communication with ). M. Cherry, of Rock Ilill, presdent of the Carolina Traction company, and had him to meet >vith them with a view to formulating a I franchise to be isked for which would meet with :he approbation of the electors. Mr. Cherry was presented with Lwo propositions for his consideration. One was to grant the 50year franchise asked for with proper restrictions and requirements and with stipulation that at the end of 20 years the company should begin and pay the city 2 per cent, of the gross receipts, the percentage to be in- \ creased to 4 per cent, after 30 \ years and to 6 per cent, after 40 years, and to continue at that. \ The other offer was a 25-year year franchise unrestricted. After considering the matter fully, Mr. Cherry wrote the mayor officially, declining both offers and withdrawing the request for a franchise. The time for making tax returns to the county auditor will expire next Saturday and those who fail will, after that date, be subject to a penalty of 50 per cent. * "' . _ ii uy to Best II | ?e Here. \ * SI DAY AT FORT MILL'S JE ARE NOW OFFERING TMENTS OF OUR BUSIDCTION OF SEASONABLE r THE MOST ADVANOFFERED THE PEOPLE Coupons. THE MOST RET T A RT F. prices possible, we i ash purchase a cou>u to a stated amount :hat you may select. /orth 21-2 cents on j you make here, and is have secured good, dise in this manner. jr groceries, harder coupons.' YOUNG. <. * i